The Verdigris Pawn

Beau is the son and heir to the cruel, distant, power-hungry ruler of the Land. Isolated his entire life, Beau knows only his father’s version of the Land’s history and people. He knows nothing of the cruelty perpetrated on his people, especially the young children of Mastery House. Escaping his rooms, Beau abruptly discovers that there are two sides to history and everything he took as truth may not in fact be so. Set against a backdrop of a chess-like game called Fist, Beau must discern the truth and find his own strength to play a real-life version of the game with the help of his friends Cressi and Nate to save the people of the Land.

Author Alysa Wishingrad has written an engrossing, middle-grade novel. In Beau, Cressi, and Nate, she has created three distinct, multi-dimensional characters who come alive on the page. In the Land, Wishingrad has made a politically complex world both accessible and interesting to younger readers. Finally, she crafts her plot in such a way the reader will remain hard pressed not to turn the page. Overall, this is a fine debut that would make a good beginning to a series.